The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1887-04-24
A STORY ABOUT TEETH
A LITTLE TALK ON 4 HOMELY TOPIC
OF WIDE INTEREST

The Administration of Gas to Thos'
who Have to Sit in Che Dentists Chair
4 SUNDAY MORNING NEWS reporte
eclimbed the short flight of iron steps OF thu
side of commodious house at the corDei
of York and Grove streets, Friday evening
and confronted glazed door with sigr
which read: sc F. Hanks, Dentist
Ringing the bell, the door was opened by
a gentleman who was noticeable for wear
ing short white coat or evidently
part OF his working dress.
CDR. Hanks ?" said the newspaper man,
inauiringIy.
s'Yes, what can 1 do for your"
"Ivant you, please, to talk to me about
dentistry, and let me publish what you
say"
'.Weil. if you are determined on an IN
teryiew," said DR.. Hanks, pleasantly, II
might recapitulate some of the questions
people ask me and the replies l give them.
The first set of teeth which nature gives
us number twenty; the second set thirty
Two. People ask me if cleaning the teeth
Injuries them. You might as well refuse to
wash your face for fear Of putting your ey es
cut es to refrain from cleaning your teeth
for fear of iDjuring the enamel"
s'Look here, Doctor" said the reporter,
laying down his notes as though an uncom-
monty bright idea had struck him, and he
wanted to put it in word-cage before it
lew away, eve noticed that the teeth of
wild animals are perfectly clean; yet who
ever saw bear or panther sitting up on
his launches and brushing his teeth after
ao1C 4 If mild
beast can get along without the trouble of
sorubbing his grinders, why can't civilized
biped do as much?'
AS the full force of this question struck
him, Dr.. Hanks pulled down his white coat
and shifted his position uneasily, but "a
man OF his reputation must be equal 70 an
emergency, and SO he braced up and re-
pliea:
In twenty years practice I have not met
with more thana half dozen persons whose
teeth kept perfectly clean without brushing.
The saliva of perfectly healthy animals
may have the power to dissolve the par
ticles that cling to the teeth, thus leaving
them clean short time after eating. If
this is not the true explanation of your
question, why, you'll have to interview the
next panther you come across and get the
facts out Of him."
can right" said the reporter. fsNow, it
Seems to me that our readers will be more
interested in the laughing gas question
than in any other connected with DENTS
try. for sooner or later, you know, every
body has to have a tooth pulled. Is it al
ways safe to take the gas? Give the points
on the matter as they occur to you, with
cut making me pull them out Of you With
the forceps of interrogation.
"Well, responded the dentist, ''you may
write down the fact il big letters that it is
always entirely safe to take the CASTOR
both cxss and al ages Any average pas
genger on the elevated railroad is more
likely to be killed outright by accident than
be is 10 be even harmed by the gas while in
nv chair yonder. In three words, there is
no danger at all. AS man might die while
under the influence of the gas. he
might die while drinking glass OF water,
and one is just as likely to kill him as the
other"
i'Please toll me where you get the gas,
and so on?'
81 make it myself, SO rs to have it al
ways fresh and pure. Itisin6niteiy better
than il bought il of the manufacturers"
"How many people have you administ.
cred the gas to since you began to make a
speciality of it ?"
81 cannot answer that question exactly,
az have kept no accurate record. but I
know l have used tWenty-four hundred
pounds Of nitrate of am monia, the salt
from which nitrous oxide gas is made.
That amount Of ammonia produces, when
heat is aPplea, sixty-two thousand five
hundred gallons of gas, and, allowing four
gallons of gas to each administration
which is ample-foo.s up in round num-
bers fifteen thousand six hundred distinct
administrations.
sDo you mean to say yon have admins
tered the gas to overhfteen thousand people
in four years without trouble or accident p
81 don't say positively as to the exact
number as it is an estimate from the num-
Der Of pounds of ammonia used; but it is
in that neighbcrhood, and as far as trouble
or anything approaching an accident is
conserved l have yet to see it.
SIS laughing gas similar in its compos-
ition and action to chloroform and ether r.
ssNo. not at all. From careful record
made by the staff of a large hospital in
Chicago the death rate for each was as
follows: Chloroform, one death in five
thousand administrations; ether, one in
fifteen thousand; gas, not one in seventy
i've thousand. have heard of but two
deaths ir this country for tho past thirty
FIVE years that were in any way attributed
to nitrous oxide gas, and in both Of these
l have the very best evidence to prove that
ether or chloroform was mixed with the
gas, causing the fatal result"
SIS the operation of extracting teeth with
gas absolutely painless r
absolutely, when properly administ-
cred"
s.Te are doing admirably, DOCTOR" re
marked the reporter, consulting his new
Waterbury watch and giving that time
piece Eve minutes winding to save time al
more 10 put" Noticing the look of relief
on the dentists face, however, hs
turned the catechetical screw once
more and said: ''Mr. Hanks,
have heard people complain that the ga
is fraud; that they have taken i
and rAnainad consciousness RIGHT nnare il